


The Girl Sitting Next to Her

by In_Your_Wildest_Dreams



Category: Booksmart (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cute, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 03:46:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20923643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_Your_Wildest_Dreams/pseuds/In_Your_Wildest_Dreams
Summary: There is a power outage at the library and it gets locked down by the system, since everything, including the locks on doors and windows, runs on electricity. Hope is struggling with not being able to leave the building and Amy tries to distract her from her thoughts.





	The Girl Sitting Next to Her

The simple reflection of her simple smile gave Hope a glimpse of faith that it might be okay. Then her mind went back to holding poking her brain with needles, while driving her thoughts down a scary road, full of the worst scenarios the situation could’ve gone to. The girl gave her a nod, “everything okay?” Hope worried her panicking was visible on the outside. With a forced smile, she answered, “yeah,” she knew she was taking too long in the bathroom, but she needed one more minute to calm down.

With her smile on, Amy exited the bathroom and walked back into the study room, to the seat she had occupied since the early morning. She sat down but was helpless, because there was no activity she could’ve engaged herself in. So she just sat there, despondently, looking around the room, spying on the other students, who didn’t know what to do either. 

Hope did a few breathing exercises then finally left the bathroom. She didn’t want to sit in the study room, but walking around was making her nervous, especially that it was dark everywhere, except the halls. Eventually, she found a spot on the hall, a piece of empty wall between the quiet study room and the janitor’s room. She sat with her back resting against the wall, doing her best to trick her mind into thinking she was sitting in her room at home as she used to in high school. 

Amy got bored too soon and decided to go downstairs to the ground floor to get a snack from the vending machine. She did have a lunch box full of baby carrots, but she rather wanted something sweet. As she was walking down the hall, she noticed the girl she encountered in the bathroom earlier was sitting on the floor, with her eyes closed. Amy thought of stopping, asking if everything was okay, but she didn’t. The vending machine was empty, so Amy had to return empty-handed. But the girl was still sitting there, with her eyes opened this time. They even exchanged a quick look. But Amy had noticed the girl was nervously playing with a rubber band. 

Hope hated going back to old habits, but she couldn’t help it but play with the rubber band again. It was a miracle she actually had one in her pocket. It was supposed to be the only thing that calmed her down, although this time it didn’t seem to be working. As she was pulling onto the rubber so hard, she thought it was about to snap, she sensed a person passing her way again. But this person didn’t keep on walking away, they stopped by her feet and said, “mind if I sit?” When Hope looked up, she realized it was the girl from the bathroom. She hesitated but nodded. The girl sat down, stretched her legs and placed the item she had with her onto her thighs. It was a small lunch box. The girl removed the lid off of it, then turned her head to Hope and said as she held the contained closer to her, “carrots?” 

Amy didn’t want to the carrots, she hated them and had no idea why she packed them as a snack. “You don’t like them either?” She asked the girl sitting next to her when she wasn’t taking any. The girl smiled and finally took one piece of baby carrot from the box. “You don’t like them?” She asked. “No,” Amy retorted and went on to take one out for herself. “Then why did you bring them?” The girl asked with a smile, “why are you eating them?” She added when she saw Amy taking a bite of the one in her hand. “They’re supposed to be healthy, but taste like dirt to me,” Amy answered with a shrug, “awful isn’t it? I never thought I would ever get locked inside a library,” Amy said, but then noticed the girl sitting next to her got pale, distraught, so she quickly added, “I always thought I was going to get locked inside an arcade when I was a kid.” It didn’t make it better, so Amy decided she had to start talking about something else or not talk at all. 

Hope knew the girl was trying to distract her, which was nice, but wasn’t working at all. Besides, it assured Hope of the fact that she was handling herself awfully and not everyone could see she was scared. “Do you come here often?” The girl asked. “Yeah. twice, three times a week.” Hope was starting to feel uncomfortable and awkward because the girl was trying to make conversation, but she sucked at keeping one alive, especially with strangers. 

Amy could sense something was off. That the girl was totally not having the time of her life talking to Amy. Maybe she had to make the thing a little more personal and, as she usually forgot to do, introduce herself and maybe find out the girl’s name in return. “I’m Amy,” she reached her right hand. To Amy’s surprise, the girl reached hers too and they shook hands, “Hope.”

Hope was still a little uncomfortable, but ultimately, having somebody sit next to her wasn’t so bad (they weren’t making things worse anyway). And the girl wasn’t even annoying, “what do you study?” She asked Hope, “French literature. You?”

“Biology,” Amy took another carrot out of the box. She was too busy working on the conversation to be disgusted about the taste of the vegetable. “Isn’t that department in a different building?” The girl asked her. “It is but our library is always full. And I like this one better.” Amy watched as the girl grasped for another carrot. “I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now,” the girl confessed, “and I don’t want to freak you or everyone else out by freaking out, but I’m, the thought of being locked in is giving me a hard time,” Amy didn’t know if talking about it did the girl any good, it didn’t work for everyone, but she was glad the girl did start opening up. “So you must be avoiding all that crime stuff, huh.”

Hope confused, still smiled about the girl’s comment, curious about what she had in mind, “what do you mean?” The girl changed her sitting position, she sat with her legs crossed, while facing Hope. “That if you did something bad and were thrown into prison, it would probably be the end of you.” The girl’s thought-flow made Hope genuinely smile. It was something she had never thought of but made a lot of sense. “Probably,” Hope agreed, then added a playful question “what about you?” 

“Me? I’m, well, when I was six I stole a chocolate bar from the store my mom worked at. But I confessed to it the next day. _Oh_, and, allegedly, when I was thirteen, I stole a girl’s heart and I broke it. I tried fixing it, but,” Amy shrugged, “she told me it was never the same, so maybe that would count as a crime. But what do I know?” Amy heard the girl say, “definitely a crime,” and give her a serious look, which slipped into a smirk. Amy couldn’t help but smile at it, for there she found it cute how the girl was trying to be serious but failed at it. 

Hope’s attention shifted from the girl sitting next to her, to two girls walking past them. They both overheard as one girl was telling the other how “there’s no chance we’re leaving the building before midnight. The same thing happened at Mike’s college and they spent the whole night there. Doesn’t this kinda go against safety regulations? Like how do you put electronic locks on all doors and not think of a power outage?” As their voices were fading, the matter of their conversation brought Hope’s unease back. 

The girl started nervously playing with her hands, as they both watched the two girls walk away. Amy had to think of something to distract the girl from the fact of how they maybe were going to be stuck inside the library for a couple more hours. The girl gave Amy a sad look, she was visibly scared. Then something popped into Amy’s mind.

One second Hope was starting to spiral into a panic attack, the next she saw the girl sitting next to her jump up. “Come with me,” she exhorted, reached her hand for Hope to take it. “Where?” Hope asked full of doubts. “I have an idea.” 

Amy could see the girl didn’t trust her, why would she, they were strangers. “We have the library all to ourselves. Okay, not only to ourselves but the third floor has the best books. Plus, if you’re gonna hate the thing I thought of, we can come back and just sit here.”

“Okay,” said Hope and took the girl’s hand, although she couldn’t really use it as help while standing up, for the girl was so short and, in fact, almost fell backward while trying to help Hope up. They took the spiral staircase up to the third floor. Hope vacillated about whether she should suggest to the girl for them to go back to the hall or not. She wasn’t quite convinced, whatever the girl had in mind, was a good idea. “So what are we doing here without the lights?” Hope asked, once entered the third floor full of shelves with books on them. Or that was what Hope assumed they did, for it was pitch dark there. “We have our phones, come on,” the girl said and dragged Hope with her somewhere across the room. 

Using her phone’s flashlight, Amy guided through the room, between shelves with all sorts of books. Amy stopped at a random shelf, but she stopped so suddenly, the girl she was dragging with her didn’t realize that and they bumped into each other. “Oh, sorry,” she apologized, but Amy just laughed it off. “So what now?” The girl asked. “We’re going to rearrange the books a little. But not just anyhow, we’re going to try and create sentences out of the book titles.”

“That’s evil,” Hope’s biggest concern was people trying to look for the books but not finding them where they were supposed to be the next days. “It’s going to be fun, trust me,” the girl was convincing her. “I don’t know, maybe we should just go back.”

“Let’s just try it and see how it goes,” Amy insisted. She raised the light of her phone higher and read aloud the nearest book title, “The Devil Within” she moved her light to her left and read again, “Children of the Corn.”

Hope had to admit, it was a little amusing, “okay, let’s do this,” Hope wanted to get her phone from her pocket, but only then did she, and the girl, realize they were holding still holding hands. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t even,” the girl started furiously apologizing for it and so did Hope, “yeah, uh, sorry,” they quickly let go of each other’s hands. Hope could feel her cheeks burning, she said nervously “I will, um, go around and we could yell when we find an interesting title?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Amy felt embarrassed for some reason but sensed the same in the girl’s voice. “And also do some random rearrangements, just shuffle the books,” Amy added. She didn’t know if the girl was embarrassed for a good or bad reason. She hoped the girl didn’t think Amy was holding onto her hand on purpose, trying to make a move. She might’ve revealed she was into girls, but she sure wasn’t trying anything. Although tall girls made Amy feel all kinds of things, it was _not_ why she voluntarily paired herself up with this tall, gorgeous stranger.

As she was walking away from the girl, Hope mentally cursed at herself for a good second. She didn’t understand why she got so flustered about holding that stranger girl’s hand and why she acted weird about it. Did the girl notice how weird she was? Hope had to admit that holding the girl’s hands felt nice and warm and there was something comforting about it. Hope caught herself smiling while thinking about it. 

“Oh, I got a Europe’s Finest,” Amy yelled and shortly heard the girl from a few rows from her say, “Tantric Sex for Busy Couples?” This made both of them giggle. “What? Did you just made that up?” Amy asked. “No. You want to see it?” The girl asked, still giggling about it. “Hell no,” Amy exclaimed. “Lucky Strike,” said Amy and the girl added, “The Official Mixer’s Manual.”

Hope felt like she had put all the books in all the wrong spots. She felt bad for whoever was going to arrive the next day and look at the mess the shelves had become. “Messing with My Head,” Hope said the first title this time, then shortly heard the girl from afar, “The Soul of an Octopus.” Hope smiled. While not all the lines they paired up made complete sense or were funny, it was still amusing in a way. 

After a while, it was more difficult to find the right title to yell aloud and Amy soon found herself just reading them, but not talking to the girl. She thought the girl might’ve simply left because she didn’t say anything either. Or maybe she did, only Amy was too focused on reading that she didn’t notice. “Hey,” Amy called. “That’s not a book title, is it?” She heard an answer from somewhere near. When she looked up, she could see a light slowly approaching her from the other side of the shelf. “No. I was just calling for you.” They almost bumped into each other, but Amy stepped away just in time. “Oh, good, I’m here,” the girl said, while Amy held up her light to the girl’s face, but not too high so it didn’t poke the girl’s eyes out. “Should we go?” Amy suggested. “I think so. No book is where it is supposed to be anymore, so,” the girl concluded as they walked out into the hall, where there was more light than inside. 

“This was kinda fun,” Hope shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Then when she saw the girl’s sight drop to them and then quickly look away, Hope remembered the hand holding thing and she quickly pulled them out. Then regretted this action too, for now the girl might think that Hope wanted to hold hands again. This whole dilemma frustrated her, but she was able to shake it off. 

Amy shook her head lightly, for she believed she had just made the girl flustered. Why would she look down at the girl’s hands? Why was she making things awkward? Her worries about making the girl nervous or uncomfortable were coming back. Luckily, they were back on the first floor. “I’m gonna,” she heard the girl say while motioning at the restroom. “Sure, sure, I’ll be uh,” Amy said awkwardly and didn’t finish her sentence, just assuming the girl knew what she was thinking of. Her heart dropped when the girl disappeared behind the bathroom door. Amy walked back into the study room, back into her seat. What if the girl used the bathroom as an excuse to get rid of Amy? Or she was still having anxiety about being locked in, which meant Amy and her attempt to distract her was a failure. Or that she found Amy annoying and too much and didn’t want to be anywhere near her. 

In retrospect, Hope regretted not saying anything but _‘I’m gonna’_ when leaving to use the bathroom. She quickly washed her hands, while praying the girl would be waiting outside in the hall. Hope felt too awkward to go and look for her in the study room. Maybe the girl didn’t even want to hang around her anymore. She knew the girl was only being nice, trying to distract her from her thoughts, but Hope didn’t want to be a nuisance. Sadly, the girl wasn’t in the hallway or near the doors of the study room. Hope was indecisive on whether she should go back to her little spot in the hall and sit there or go and look for the girl inside the study room. 

After around five minutes, Amy started looking around with her eyes, hoping to spot the girl somewhere. There was no way she took so long in the restroom. Or maybe she did. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well. What if she fainted? Amy had all the bad scenarios running through her head and they didn’t let her be, so she picked herself up determined to look for the girl. Although the staff had installed small, candle look-alike lights, which were running on batteries, all over the study room, they still weren’t enough. And so, in the haste and deep thought, Amy bumped into two guys, to whom she apologized. As she was turning back around, to continue her walking, she bumped into somebody again. 

Hope’s first reaction was to grab the girl by the shoulders to minimize the crash of their bodies, “oh, sorry,” she saw a small glimpse of the girl’s genuine surprise when she realized it was Hope. “Hey,” she said. “Hey,” Hope said back. “I was just going to look for you, I,” her words warmed Hope’s heart. Maybe the girl didn’t find her annoying. “Me too,” Hope said to her, “I was, um,” she shut up what she saw the grin on the girl’s face, “come sit with me,” she invited Hope to go with her. 

Amy really thought she was never going to talk to the girl again. She was much more invested in making sure she was near this girl than she cared to admit. Before they got to sit down, they heard somebody speaking aloud, “attention students. We’re still unable to leave, but we were able to get some snacks, coffee, and tea. We’ve set up a few tables on the ground floor. We’ll keep you updated on everything.” Amy stopped and looked at the girl, who seemed to be taking the information in pretty well. “Are you hungry? Do we go and grab something?” Amy asked and without waiting to receive an answer she added, “or I can just go by myself, ‘cause I could eat something. You can wait here or the hall or just not,” Amy had the need to let the girl know, she wasn’t bound to Amy, that they didn’t have to hang out if she wasn’t comfortable. 

Hope’s heart skipped a beat, “no, no, I.” Did the girl think Hope didn’t want to hang out with her? Hope didn’t know how to tell the girl, that being around her was actually soothing without it sounding too creepy. “Let’s go grab something,” she said with a smile. The girl smiled back and they walked together. It was so strange because Hope didn’t know who this girl was, but being around her felt like, well, she couldn’t name the feeling of what it felt like, but it was nice. 

There were dozens of sandwiches and a whole box of chocolate chip cookies, along with coffee, a kettle, and a box full of tea bags. Amy made tea for both of them, while Hope collected a few sandwiches for them onto a paper plate, then occupied the nearest sofa for two. When the water boiled, Amy poured the hot water into two mugs and carried them to the sofa. 

Hope waited for Amy to arrive with the tea, she didn’t want to start eating without her. She liked the sofa, which was more like a big cube without a frontal wall and with an elongated bottom for the legs; it even had a ceiling and was made of fluffy material. When the girl came back she was even able to stretch her legs our, Hope’s were hanging off a little (a lot, actually). “They only had herbal tea, but didn’t say what kind, so I’m guessing it’s just herbs in general.”

Amy was glad they were able to occupy that sofa because it was too comfortable to skip out on that experience. She could even imagine spending the night on it but had faith that that wasn’t going to be necessary. They didn’t talk much while eating, but there was one thing that Amy had noticed. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but her heart quietly trembled each time her mind reminded her about their shoulders being pressed against each other and their stretched legs gently touching. Amy was never a touchy person, she hated giving hugs to friends or people from uni, who were just so affectionate all the time. But this was a different intimacy which she quite enjoyed and wanted more of. It was intimidating, though. 

Hope smiled, but only to herself, about how when each time their legs touched the girl sitting next to her pulled a little away then shortly relax, letting their legs connect them in a way. She watched as all the students were coming down, getting something to eat and drink. The ground floor was suddenly getting more crowded with bodies and talking. 

“How about we play a game?” Amy suggested. She thought of filling the silence between the two of them, while they were sipping on their teas. “A game?” She asked curiously. “A game of I Spy?” Hope smiled, “I Spy? Okay, why not?” Amy smiled too, she turned her head to look at the taller girl sitting next to her and she realized they were much closer to each other than she initially imagined. The girl looked down at Amy and when they locked eyes, they both immediately looked away into opposite directions. 

“You should start,” Hope heard the girl say. Hope’s face was burning only from that mere glimpse of eye contact and she was confused as to why it was. “Okay,” she said, then her eyes quickly scanned their surroundings. Finally, she picked an object and said, “I spy with my little eyes something green.” 

Amy looked around and spotted several green objects. “Is it a piece of clothing?” Amy asked, seeing a girl in a green shirt. “No.” Amy tried to look again and something else caught her eye, “is it that little ball thing that’s hanging from that guy’s keychain?”

Hope scoffed, then said, “I’m impressed. Now you go,” and so they played a few rounds of this game, which might’ve been a little silly, but did make some of that awfully slowly going time go a little faster. 

It was the final round and it was Amy’s turn. She didn’t even look around, she didn’t have to. She said, “I spy with my little eye something pretty.” She knew the girl wasn’t going to guess it and she sort of regretted doing this one, but on the other hand, she had a good feeling about it. “Pretty? Define pretty,” the girl said, but Amy didn’t answer her request for a clue. After a little while, the girl gave up, and Amy had to decide whether she told her what she spied with her little eye or not. 

“It’s you,” Hope heard her say. Did the girl just… was she flirting? “That was corny, I apologize,” she added. Hope couldn’t fight the grin on her face, so she just went with it. She wasn’t used to people flirting with her. “It wasn’t,” Hope assured the girl she didn’t have to be embarrassed about it, “okay, it was,” she added. “Hey,” Hope heard the girl go, “do you wanna hear a dad joke?” 

Amy didn’t wipe her grin until the girl sitting next to her nodded. “Okay. It’s white and it disturbs you while you’re eating. What is it?” The girl looked at Amy perplexed, “I don’t know,” she said. “An avalanche,” Amy finally revealed with the same stupid grin on her face. 

Hope didn’t find the joke funny at all, but she still couldn’t help but smile as she looked at the girl grinning. “I’m not gonna laugh at that,” she announced, so the girl did a second joke attempt, “it’s red and it hurts when it gets into your eyes. What is it?” Hope just shrugged and expected another silly answer, which she got when the girl went, “a tractor.” Hope was tempted but still didn’t laugh. “Oh another one goes, why can’t the T-Rex clap?” 

“Why?” the girl asked, to which Amy said, “because it’s extinct,” and made her own self laugh out loud, had to cover her mouth. After a few seconds, the girl started laughing too. Amy was convinced it wasn’t at the joke, but she didn’t care. When they were able to contain themselves, they both noticed people were giving them the wrong eye. This accelerated their need to laugh, plainly about the situation. The girl slipped lower, so her head was in the level of Amy’s shoulder and soon she was covering her forehead against it. 

Hope didn’t know why she got so close to the girl, it was spontaneous. She was about to pull her head away, sit back up, but then she felt the girl’s cheek rest against the side of her head. This made Hope think it was probably okay, that neither of them was uncomfortable in that position, physically or mentally. “Do you know-” the girl started speaking again, but had to stop because they both had to suffocate their laughter into their palms again. In a few seconds, the girl started again, whispering her words, hoping that would let them come out easier, “do you know why the birds fly south in the winter?” 

Amy knew if she laughed for too long, the joke was not going to be funny anymore, but the girl was laughing too, so she didn’t really have to worry. “Why?” She heard as the girl whispered back as she was catching her breath. Amy took a deep breath too and tried to think of something sad, then said, “because it would take them longer by foot.”

It might’ve been for a silly reason, but Hope couldn’t recall the last time she had laughed so much. She enjoyed the time she was spending with this stranger girl and, oddly, she kind of wished they would be locked in there for a little longer.

**Author's Note:**

> This "being locked inside the library" happened to me last week and it was the worst thing ever, I kid y'all not. And while I didn't have a person who would sit with me through it, I wished I did, hence this two-part short. Second part will be up in a few days.


End file.
